Draft gear for railway draft rigging



Jan. 29, 1957 Filed July 18, 1955 E. G. FORSSELL 2,779,480

DRAFT GEAR FOR RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING 3 Sheets-Sheet l Inven/or: .E'T cGQFbTLsselZ.

Jan. 29, 195.7 E. G. FORSSELL 2,779,450

DRAFT GEAR FOR RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING Filed July 18, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet2 /C S l 1 :Z

I I i Invenflar; I C GIZfsseZZ.

Jan. 29, 1957 E. G. FORSSELL 2,779,480

DRAFT GEAR FOR RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING Filed July 18, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet3 Eric GForsse'lZ.

Inve n/or:

United States Patent DRAFT GEAR FQR RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING Eric G.Forssell, Kenmore, N. Y., assignor to W. H. Miner, Inc, Chicago, IlL, acorporation of Delaware Application July 18, 1955, Serial No. 522,687

6 Claims. (Cl. 213-45) This invention relates to draft gear for railwaydraft rigging.

It is a main object of the invention to provide, in a draft gear thathas a resilient column encased in a metal casing, an improved plungerand front follower by which the gear is held together as a unit andthrough which pressure is applied to the column.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pressure applyingplunger for a draft gear, composed of two identical members which.telescope together to permit insertion in the casing of the gear and arespread apart and held in spaced apart relation to lock the gear togetheras a unit.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved front followerfor the resilient column of a draft gear, which follower carries meansinterengaged with the members of a two-piece pressure applying plungerto hold those members in position to lock the gear together as a unit.

Further objects of the invention not specifically mentioned here will beapparent from the detailed description and claims which follow,reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which the preferredembodiment of the invention is shown by way of example and in which:

Figure l is a front end elevational view of the completely assembledgear;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the gear;

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view taken substantially along the line3--3 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 4 is a side elevational view of the lower plunger member;

Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the upper plunger member;

Figure 6 is an end view of the gear showing the plunger memberstelescoped together for insertion in the casing;

Figure 7 is a view of the upper plunger member as seen from the frontend of the gear;

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 7, showing the lower plungermember;

Figure 9 is an elevational view of the plunger member as seen from theline 9-9 of Figure 7;

Figure 10 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 1t)10 of Figure9, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Figure 11 is a cross sectional view along the line 1111 of Figure 9,looking in the direction of the arrows.

As shown in the drawings, the gear of the present invention consists ofa metallic casing A in which a resilient column B is housed andstabilized by stabilizing separators C with a front follower D at thefront end of the column and in engagement with the pressure applyingplunger E.

The casing consists of spaced apart top and bottom walls 10 and 11joined by side walls 12 and 13 and closed at its rear end by a solidrear wall 14. The top wall 10 and bottom wall 11 flare outwardlyadjacent the front end 2,779,480 Patented Jan. 29, 1957 of the casing,forming internally opening grooves 15 which are closed at the front endof the casing by inwardly turned flanges 16, best seen in Figure 3.

The resilient column consists of a plurality of pads of knownconstruction, each consisting of a pair of metal plates with a solid padof rubber interposed therebetween and bonded thereto. The units in thecolumn are divided into groups by stabilizing separators C, also ofknown construction and consisting of a plate interposed between adjacentunits and around the edges of which are flanges that have slidingengagement with the walls of the casing.

The front follower D consists of a structure similar to the stabilizingseparators C, having forwardly extending frusto-conical bosses 20, whichare four in number. The rearwardly extending flanges 21 of the frontfollower contain openings 22 and the walls 10 and 11 of the caslogcontain openings 23.

The pressure applying plunger consists of two members which are ofidentical construction. Each of these members consists of a rectangularbase 30 whose length is substantially equal to the inside width of thecasing A and whose width is somewhat less than one-half of the height ofthe casing. The base 39 contains a pair of frusto-conical sockets 31located symmetrically therein.

Upstanding from one edge of the base: 3i) and at right angles thereto isa flat wall 32 from which a rectangular boss 33 projects outwardly, thisboss extending from near one end of the wall to approximately the medianline of the wall. Wall 32 also contains an inwardly extending socket 34which extends from the opposite end of the wall to approximately themedian line thereof.

Upstauding from the base 39 is an inclined side wall 35 and inclined endwalls 36 formed integrally with the base 3t? and flat wall 32, whichside and end walls, together with the wall 32, are joined by a frontwall 37 formed integrally therewith.

Projecting from the base 30 at the junction of side wall 35 therewithare lugs 38, which are two in number.

In assembling the gear, casing A is placed with its closed endlowermost, and the units of resilient column B and stabilizingseparators C are placed therein. The front follower D is placed at thetop of the column and pressure applied thereto to compress the columnsufliciently to align the openings 22 in the flange 21 of the frontfollower with the openings 23 in the walls of the casing. Suitable keys,not shown, are inserted through these openings to hold the followeragainst the pressure of the thus compressed resilient column.

The two members of the plunger E are then fitted together with the boss33 of the one unit projecting into the socket 34 of the other unit. Whenin this position, the outer edges of the plugs 38 will clear the flanges16 at the front end of the casing, thereby to permit the plunger to beinserted into the casing. The two members are then spread apart toregister the frusto-conical bosses 20 on the front follower with thefrusto-conical sockets 31 in the plunger members. This moves the lugs 38into the grooves 15 in the casing walls. With the plunger members thusspread apart, bosses 33 still engage in the sockets $4 in the mannershown in Figure 3.

Pressure is then applied to the plunger to relieve the pressure on thekeys which are removed, and as pressure is removed from the plunger theresilient column B expands, forcing the lugs 38 into engagement with theinturned flanges 15 at the forward ends of the grooves 15, thereby tolock the gear together as a unit. In Figure 3, the gear is shown in theposition which it occupies when installed in the yoke and pocket of adraft rigging. It will be noted that the lugs 38 are spaced rearwardlyof the flanges 16 under these conditions.

In operation, pressure is applied to the plunger to telescope it in thecasing, thereby to compress resilient column B, the lugs 38 travelingrearwardly in grooves 15 during this movement. This telescoping movementof the plunger is guided by the flanges 21 on the front follower, whichflanges have sliding engagement with the walls of the casing. When thepressure upon the plunger is removed, the resilient column B expands,moving the plunger outwardly of the casing.

Having thus complied with the statutes, and shown and described apreferred embodiment of my invention, what i consider new and desire tohave protected by Letters latent'is pointed out in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. The combination with a draft gear in which a resilient column isencased in a metallic casing of rectangular cross section closed at itsrear end and open at its front end, which casing includes groovesopening inwardly adjacent its open end, which grooves are closed byflanges at the open end of the casing; of a pressure applying plungerfor said resilient column comprising two identical members fitted oneabove the other in the open end of the casing, each of said memberscomprising: a rectangular base; a side wall upstanding out of said baseat right angles thereto; a boss extending out of said wall and extendingfrom one end to approximately the center of the wall, there being asocket in said Wall extending from said boss to the other end of saidwall; side and ends on said plunger integral with said base and sidewall, and extending forwardly from the base; a front wall on saidplunger integral with said wall, side and ends, and parallel to saidbase; lugs projecting from said base at the junction of said sidetherewith and extending into said grooves in the casing; a frontfollower for said resilient column; and interengaging means on saidfollower and the bases of said members for holding the members inposition with respect to each other and to the follower.

2. A device as specified in claim 1, in which the width of the base ofthe plunger is less than one-half of the height of the casing and inwhich the interengaged means holds the members apart so that the plungerhas sliding lit in the casing.

3. A device as specified in claim 1, in which the members are positionedin the open end of the casing with the boss in one member projectinginto the socket in the other member and in which the interengaged meansspaces the members apart vertically in the casing.

4. A device as specified in claim 1, in which the grooves in the casingare located in the top and bottom walls thereof and in which theresilient column forces the logs on the plunger members into engagementwith the flanges projecting into the grooves to hold the gear togetheras a unit.

5. A device as specified in claim 1, in which the interengaged meansconsists of frusto-conical bosses projecting forwardly from the frontfollower and into frustoconical sockets in the bases of the plungermembers.

6. A device as specified in claim 5, in which the front followercontains four forwardly extending frusto-conical bosses and in which thebase portion of each plunger member contains two frusto-conical sockets.

No references cited.

